Water Quality Assessment of Rivers in Bushehr Province by Using Water Quality Index During 2011-2013 Years

Background: Bushehr Province has been located in the south west of Iran and due to water shortage crisis in this province, the water quality assessment of its rivers is  very  important. This study was conducted with the aim of the quality assessment of Shapour, Dalaki, Helleh, Baghan, Mond and Bahoosh in Bushehr Province by using NSFWQI and IRWQISC indexes, because of the importance of these rivers in drinking, agricultural and industrial consumption . Materials and Methods: In this study, water sampling information were taken from 11 stations along 6 rivers including Shapour, Dalaki, Helleh, Mond, Bahoosh and Baghan during 2011-2013. Then, Tthe quality assessment of above-mentioned rivers was implemented by using NSFWQI and IRWQISC indexes. PO4, NO3, DO, BOD, and COD were the parameters that used for the calculation of IRWQISC whereas DO, NO3, PO4, and BOD were utilized for the measurement of NSFWQI index. One way analysis of variance was applied for the comparison of the mean of water quality parameters among different years. Moreover, ArcGIS 10.1 was applied for spatial analysis of water quality parameters and water quality indexes.    Results: The results of this study indicated that according to IRWQISC index, Baghan and Dalaki rivers with scores of 31.3 and 39.8 were categorized as bad quality rivers while Shapour, Mond, Bahoosh and Helleh with 46 and 53 scores were included in the average quality category. In addition, with respect to NSFWQI index; Baghan River with a water quality index value of 68 was in the average quality group whereas the rest of rivers with values of 73 and 80 were in the good quality rivers.   Conclusion: The findings of this study proved that the of Shapour, Dalaki, Helleh, Mond, Bahoosh and Baghan rivers water were suitable for agricultural purposes while it should be purified for drinking purposes.   &nbsp